Andrea Stetson, Special to The News-Press
There’s a big perk to being the first person to purchase a home in Babcock Ranch. That perk: getting a lake named after you.
Richard and Robin Kinley purchased a house and will soon be living on Lake Kinley.
“My husband was teasing and said ‘we are the first people, why don’t you name a lake after me,” described Robin Kinley. “And he talked to the developer and then we looked at the map and saw our names on there and just laughed and laughed. We got a kick out of it. We are on the map.”
They also started a trend because the second people to purchase there also had a lake named after them.
James and Donna Aveck will live by Lake James.
“They said ‘would like it Lake Jim or Lake Donna’ so I said how about Lake James,” Donna Aveck said. “Lake Aveck did not sound good to us either. We like the idea that James can be a first name or a last name.”
While the first two families are thrilled to have lakes named after them, that is not the reason they chose Babcock Ranch as a community.
“We had been looking in Colorado,” Robin Kinley began. “We were planning on retiring and my husband had friends in Colorado, but there was
nothing to buy. Then he began keeping track here. He (Richard) is very tech oriented and he saw an article about Babcock Ranch, when they were trying to get it going in 2006 and was intrigued by the solar. He has an electric car and drives a Tesla. He is interested in technology.”
The Kinleys had an unusual requirement when looking for a home. Robin Kinley is a professional long-arm quilter and she needed a room big enough for her 12-foot-long quilting frame. They found that in the Heirloom model.
“We looked at some of the other places, and I needed a room that was at least 15 by 15 to accommodate my long arm,” she described. “We wanted one story. We didn’t want a dining room. We already had a big house and we didn’t need it. We are empty nesters. We just wanted something for the two of us.”
So the couple, who now lives outside of Atlanta, will have a new home in Babcock Ranch in November.
James and Donna Aveck live in Punta Gorda and have been following the progress of Babcock Ranch for a long time.
“Syd Kitson (chairman and CEO of Kitson & Partners) in 2006 came to Punta Gorda where we live now and he presented his vision for Babcock Ranch being solar powered and energy efficient and we fell in love with his vision from day one,” Donna Aveck said. “We love the idea that it is a planned community. It stresses community. It stresses people getting to know their neighbors and being an active participant in the community. We love the idea that it has its own water management system. We have followed Babcock Ranch since 2006. They are such a forward thinking community.”
The Avecks chose the Brandywine model. They liked the flexibility that allowed them to make the home three bedrooms instead of two bedrooms and a den. The couple plans to move in during December.
Four new models at Babcock Ranch. Each model is decorated in a very different style to give potential buyers a wide variety of ideas.
“Because we are not from this area, people do not know what we do, so we did a lot of different options”” said Kitt Kearney, licensed real estate broker.
